Wednesday, November 30, 2011

november: week 3

Week 3 of November started off with my birthday and I realized that there were some pictures I had neglected to upload from my phone. When I got home from The Grove, my parents actually bought me a cake as well and we had a mini celebration at home.



Here are some more pictures from Disneyland (all food lol).





On Tuesday and Wednesday I didn't do much except clean. I was trying to clean out my closet and also find my winter jackets. I ended up finding a bunch of clothes to donate. A lot of really old t-shirts and sweatpants from the good 'ole UCLA days. I also had a bunch of Victoria's Secret PINK sweatpants that I never wear. Couldn't bear to give those away though lol. Those sweatpants were expensive!

Anyways, I worked on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On Thursday after work, Judy and I went to see Breaking Dawn at the midnight showing. It was so crazy! We got there at around 10pm and there were 16 different LONG ASS LINES. I mean 16 full theaters waiting for this movie O_O. In defense of the books, they were really great (not Shakespeare or anything) but written in a way a Nicholas Sparks book grips you in its romances. It's written in such a way that makes you have hope that there is love in this world. Maybe it's just me and maybe the world has always been this way but to me it has gotten a lot more depressing these days... Well enough of that lol. I had to make Judy take a picture with this poster because we decided not to wait in the long lines and just sit in the food court instead haha. Doesn't this look so great?! lol. If only I could Photoshop it so it would look better lol.



After work on Saturday, we went to support Tony's cousin who's a DJ. She was DJ-ing at AVEC, this night club in Huntington Beach. It was interesting to be back in that environment to say the least lol. Here are some pictures.






We were supposed to get filet mignon pho at this one restaurant but I got super sick so we went home. The next day it was super rainy weather so we decided to get BCD Tofuhouse. After that we went back to Tony's cousin's house and watched a bit of Get Him to the Greek. I was super surprised by how funny it was! Still can't believe Russell Brand is the bunny in Hop lol (I digress lol). We were halfway thru when we had to make a quick stop at Disneyland to ElecTRONica to see a friend of his cousins DJ. It was pretty cool because it was raining so they had it indoors.



After ElecTRONica, we got Cheesecake Factory to-go, went back to Tony's cousin's place, and finished watching Get Him to the Greek. That pretty much ended my 3rd week of November. Since lots went on for Thanksgiving, I'll save that for a separate post. Although there won't be that many pictures.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

errands, chores, and misc

So I've got some chores that I need to complete before I can update with another entry. Here's my to-do list for the day:

  • update checkbook
  • update finances on spreadsheet
  • update calendar(s) with new schedule
  • email request off days for december
  • confirm shifts at stores
  • complete pharmacist letter CEs
  • register clarisonic mia
  • update info online for incentive program (unsure what to do since I'm a floater and don't really work for any store... :/)
  • update citibank 20% bonus on eligible cash back
  • VS fashion show :)
Hopefully I'll be able to complete all these by the end of the day!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! :)

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

happy thanksgiving!!

Hi all!

Gobble gobble!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very fun and safe Thanksgiving! I actually have to head into work in a few and then I have to work on Black Friday bright and early as well so it's not really a long weekend for me. However! After working Black Friday, I won't have to work again until Thursday next week! So I think that evens out lol.

December will be quite hectic in terms of funding as student loans will be out of grace in addition to the holiday shopping. I really should have been paying off my student loans since I started working but I wanted to save a little money first. Oh well. My first payment is quite hefty too... $1700 and that's not including my undergrad loans (yes.. $1700 only covers grad school loans O_O). And they've been cutting my hours too... I only work 3 days a week. I guess I'll have to cut down on my spending to make up for it. I'm hoping I'll get a nice tax break being that I only worked like 4 months out of the whole year. I need to capitalize on this year's tax break since this will be the only one I'll probably be getting.

Side note: has anyone else noticed that Mint.com won't sync with the new Direct Loans site?? I'm having a fit entering all my info a billion times. If anyone has figured this shit out, please let me know. As much as I like looking at the amount of money I have in the bank without including my loans, its definitely not very realistic lol.

ANYWAYS lol. Enough with my financial worries. I have to start packing up my stuff as I'm heading down to San Diego to celebrate Thanksgiving with Tony's family since my family doesn't really celebrate any holidays.

Again, Happy Thanksgiving! And may the happiest season of the year begin!! **can you tell I fricken love this time of year?!!!**


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

the birthday post! - part 3

Twas a great night at The Grove and the next day, on the 14th, Disneyland officially started their holiday stuff so Tony and I went to check it out! 

tram picture to start off the day


i'm the beaver :/ i'm starting to really suck at this game :(


not sure how long this will be on main street but this train is sooooo cool! it actually starts smoking!
chooo chooo!


it's beginning to look a lot like christmas!

main street, u.s.a.


santa's got it right!


tigger & eeyore!


pooh! and poo poo face! lol


it's a small world!



thumper in front of the castle!

Had the most wonderful time at Disneyland! 
So glad Tony called in sick lol. 
There will be one more post of the spoils aka gifts :D

the birthday post! - part 2

After our wonderful and delicious brunch, we went over to The Grove since I knew it was going to be crazy crowded for the Tree Lighting Ceremony. I expected it to be crowded but seriously not THIS crowded. The crowd got super rowdy at the end so we didn't end up waiting for the actual show to start and went to eat at The Cheesecake Factory instead where Nam and Matthew saw one of the chicks from Basketball Wives lol. 

the grove in la

view from the top of the parking structure of the grove.
you can see the hollywood sign in the distance (the white line on the mountain lol)

As soon as we got to The Grove, Gavin Degraw was doing his soundcheck and of course we had to stay. He sang "Not Over You" [YouTube]. Such a catchy song! 

So side note: One of those weird/quirky things I love to is reading the comments on YouTube videos and this was the top comment when I went to watch the video. 










Totally cracked me up. 


photo credit goes to judy


Anyways, Gavin Degraw has always been one of my favorite artists. He's just so fricken talented. I love watching him play the piano. ("play it once, Sam.. for old times sake..." oh Ziggy... the impact you've made on the lives of so many with your Humanities class lol)



Anywhos! After Gavin, Colbie Caillat hit the stage and sang "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "Brighter Than the Sun" [YouTube]. Unfortunately, my real camera battery died before I could record the second song. That Brighter Than the Sun song is so fricken catchy too! Makes we want to bust out my tamborine (that I don't have) and go crazy lol.


After Colbie Caillat, we were forced to move out of the area that was right in front of the stage because that was the area for photographers and the camera crew. But not before Colbie Caillat was able to catch a photo of us in the crowd! I'll post a "where's waldo?" picture lol

Can you find us?!

this is going to be legend...

wait for it...

wait for it...

wait for it...

gives you diarrhea if you're lactose intolerant... dairy!

yes i'm a nerd and i drew arrows to where we were lol. so sue me!


So after they moved us, we were right by the big Grove sign which is where I was able to take that pretty picture of The Grove sign. Here's a picture that Judy took from where we were standing later on... before the rowdy crowd was too much and it was just time to grub lol.

the grove la - robin thicke on-stage
photo credit goes to judy again :)

After this, we went to The Cheesecake Factory, which is one of my favorite restaurants, for grub! 



It was seriously pandemonium when we left. We left as Colbie Caillat was singing and it was a good thing we left when we did. It was so crowded and people were having difficulty breathing in the crowd. It was a little scary because the fire marshal was threatening to close the shindig down. 

Love ya'lls for one of the most wonderful birthdays ever!! 

the birthday post! - part 1

jack 'n jills in beverly hills (it rhymes! lol)
yes.. just look at the cheesy smile. that's the smile of someone turning 26 lol.
i'm gettin' old peeps... i'm getting old...

So I requested the weekend of my birthday off awhile back (probably at least 3 weeks prior) and luckily I was granted the weekend off! I had to work on Veteran's Day which was Friday the 11th, which happened to be super busy :/ but I was going to get to see Tony after work so it made the day more bearable. Tony drove up to spend the weekend but he was saying he would probably have to leave early on Sunday since he has work early on Monday. Not going to lie but I was a little disappointed because I had wanted to go to The Grove to watch their Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony which wouldn't be starting until 7:30p and Tony would probably be gone by then. So far I had only planned brunch with my friends but I wanted to spend the day together since everyone is super busy these days and with the holidays coming up, it's even harder to get everyone together. But, he ended up staying until Monday so that we could see the Christmas decorations at Disneyland so yay!

Anyways, I was so happy that my birthday actually landed on a weekend this year! (although it did land on Saturday last year so I'm not sure I was so much more excited this year lol). We started of Sunday by heading to Jack & Jill's in Beverly Hills. For smaller parties, I'd opt to sit outside and people watch... and car watch lol. There are so many nice cars in this part of town! Since we had a party of 10, we opted to sit indoors.

Here's some food porn. I ordered my usual Chicken Pesto Panini.

Making the rounds!
me & tony

fab 5 gals minus sophie

geri & judy

thanks sam & james for coming out!
my new jewelmint buddy lol

nam & matthew
LOL LOVE matthew's face lol


So I think I'll have to break up this birthday post into 3 separate sections because for some reason it's not allowing me to upload any more pictures lol. Part 2 will be from The Grove and Part 3 will be from Disneyland! 

Thanks for reading so far!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

sephora friends & family haul

So I ordered quite a few things from Sephora for their Friends and Family 20% off sale. 
So much in fact that my package came in this gynormous box. O_O 


As you know, you get 3 free samples for ordering online. I also had a 100-point perk from my order last Christmas so I got the "hope in a jar" moisturizer. Is it just me or does it have an awful stench?! I used it once and it smelled all chemically. Haven't used any of the fragrance samples yet since I am not exactly lacking in that department with my other orders (see below).



Stocking up on a favorite. I never use to use moisturizer except for the Clean & Clear Oil-Free Dual Action Moisturizer which contains salicylic acid for my acne and then when I was living with Tanya in Stockton, I noticed she'd always use the "Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion" so I decided to give the moisturizing gel a shot. I got the gel when it first came out with their 3-step skincare line but it didn't do much for me so I stopped using it. The moisturizing gel actually works really well. I bought the extra large bottle (the one with the pump) last year and I barely finished using it so it was time to re-stock.


I've always been interested in the use of "highlighters" so I decided to give this a try. I've only used it once so far so I can't really give a too great review. I don't really notice a difference though :/


So after getting a tiny sample of the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion with my Naked Palette I decided to get the full size version with the new packaging. 


Since my birthday was coming up, I also got to add the Birthday Gift with my order :). 
Smells very good.



One of the 2 fragrances that I bought. I bought the gift set since it was more bang for the buck.


I started watching a lot of YouTube make-up gurus lately and all of them rave about the Clarisonic Mia. I decided to give it a try. I started using the Mia on Monday and I've been using it twice daily. It takes some getting used to though because it's so fricken ticklish on and around the nose! So far I've noticed that the pores on my nose have shrunken dramatically! I feel like the spinning of the bristles actually loosens all the blackheads and whiteheads so that my pores can shrink. I was worried that it would break me out since I heard that there's a test period where the Clarisonic will actually bring up all the dirt so that you end up breaking out. 



This is the fragrance I've been wearing for the longest time. Just getting my second bottle. I like this fragrance a lot but it is quite strong and Tony says it can smell old-lady-ish lol. I think it's 'cause it's Chanel. But either way, I love that this scent is super long lasting. 

And this concludes my Sephora Friends & Family Haul! 
Hope you enjoyed!
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